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Measuring Phosphorus Release in Laboratory Microcosms for Water Quality Assessment

Measuring Phosphorus Release in Laboratory Microcosms for Water Quality Assessment

Published on: July 22, 2019

Enhanced nitrogen load improved soil phosphorus availability by regulating P-cycling microbial genes in a typical

Huihui Wu^1,2, Zhigao Sun^3,4, Bingbing Chen^1,2,5

¹Fujian Provincial Key Laboratory for Subtropical Resources and Environment, Fujian Normal University, Fuzhou, 350007, People's Republic of China.

Environmental Microbiome

|December 2, 2025

Abstract

Background:

Enhanced nitrogen (N) load was considered a critical factor influencing phosphorus (P) availability and P-cycling in marsh soils. However, information on the links between soil P availability and microbial genes involved in P-cycling processes under N enrichment conditions remains scarce.

Methods:

A field N load experiment with four treatments (N₀, N_low, N_medium, and N_high) was conducted in Cyperus malaccensis marsh of the Min River estuary, and soil P availability, the relative abundances of P-cycling functional genes and their regulatory roles on P availability were investigated.

Results:

The total phosphorus (TP) contents in soils were significantly positively correlated with N load levels (p < 0.05). Compared with the N₀ treatment, the TP in the N_low, N_medium and N_high treatments increased by 8.97%, 17.34% and 15.21%, respectively. With increasing N load levels, the proportions of easily- and moderately-available P in TP contents noticeably increased, suggesting that N additions enhanced soil P availability. Metagenomic sequence analyses showed that N enrichment markedly altered the relative abundances of P-cycling functional genes. Briefly, the abundances of inorganic P solubilization genes (particularly ppa and ppx) increased substantially with increasing N load levels. The total abundances of organic P mineralization genes in the N_low and N_medium treatments decreased markedly, while those in the N_high treatment increased greatly. The abundances of genes coding for phytase (phy and appA) markedly increased with increasing N load levels, implying that phytase was more sensitive to N enrichment. Furthermore, enhanced N load noticeably reduced the abundances of genes participated in P transportation (particularly ugpABEC) and those involved in P-assimilating process (e.g., phoR, phoB, pstABCS and pit). As affected by enhanced N load, the contents of easily-available P showed strong correlations with the abundances of genes involved in inorganic P solubilization while those of moderately-available P (particularly Sonic-P_i, Sonic-P_o and NaOH-P_i) were positively correlated with the abundances of genes involved in P regulation and transportation, indicating strong linkages between P-cycling functional genes and soil P availability.

Conclusions:

This paper found that, under N enrichment conditions, the increased inorganic P solubilization potential and the weakened microbial P immobilization capacity were beneficial to increasing soil P availability.

Keywords:

Metagenomics Min River estuary N load P availability P-cycling functional genes

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